The Walt Disney Co added Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men to its vast cast of characters yesterday with a surprise agreement to buy Marvel Entertainmentu00a0 for $4 billion (Rs 19,500 crore).<br /><br />"Adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Disney President and Chief Executive Robert Iger said. "We are pleased to bring these great assets to Disney."<br /><br />
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<p align="center"><span style="font-size: 8pt"><strong>Legends:</strong> Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men are the most famous of Marvel's cast.</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><br />The deal, which caught analysts and the market by surprise, was announced shortly before the opening bell on Wall Street.<br /><br />Marvel Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter said Disney is "the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses."<br /><br />Marvel is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. It was founded in 1939 as comic book publisher Timely Comics. <br /><br />Besides comics, Marvel characters also feature in movies, animated features, videogames and toys such as action figures.

The Walt Disney Co added Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men to its vast cast of characters yesterday with a surprise agreement to buy Marvel Entertainment  for $4 billion (Rs 19,500 crore).

Spidey joins Mickey

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